System for selecting multimedia databases over networks

Abstract

There is provided a network server which interfaces a client with selected database sites from a plurality of database sites. The network server comprises a meta-database (including both text information and multimedia information), a search agent, and a refining module. The search agent indexes the meta-database with a user query obtained from the client, and then distributes queries, developed pursuant to such indexing, to the selected ones of the plurality of database sites. In turn, database site information (responsive to the distributed queries) is retrieved from the selected ones of the plurality of database sites. A refining module is used to update the meta-database with the database relevancy information.

I claim: 
     
       1. A network server for selecting database sites from a plurality of available database sites in a distributed network, said network server communicatively coupling a plurality of clients with the plurality of available database sites, wherein one of the plurality of clients transmits a user query to said network server to obtain database site information, comprising: a) a meta-database for storing information relating to the plurality of available database sites, wherein said stored information includes both text information and multimedia information;   b) a search agent, communicating with said meta-database, for, i) coordinating information flow between the one of the plurality of clients, said meta-database, and at least one of the plurality of available database sites,   ii) recording the information relating to the plurality of available database sites in said meta-database,   iii) using the user query to index the information relating to the plurality of available database sites stored in said meta-database, such that both the text information and the multimedia information are indexed,   iv) distributing database site queries, developed pursuant to indexing said meta-database, to selected ones of the plurality of available database sites,   v) retrieving database site information in response to distributing of the database site queries to the selected ones of the plurality of available data sites, and   vi) transmitting at least a portion of the database site information to the one of the plurality of clients; and     c) a refining module, communicating with said search agent, for, i) observing response patterns from the plurality of available database sites based on user inquiries,   ii) developing association patterns for database relevancy computations, and   iii) communicating database relevancy information to said search agent for updating said meta-database.     
     
     
       2. The network server of claim 1, in which said meta-database includes qualitative information, further comprising an indexing module for indexing the text and qualitative information apart from the multimedia information. 
     
     
       3. The network server of claim 1, in which said search agent, as a result of indexing said meta-database, is apprised of multimedia features which may possess semantic coherence and/or semantic incoherence, wherein said search agent checks for semantic coherence of the indexed multimedia features. 
     
     
       4. The network server of claim 1, in which query data patterns having varying degrees of site relevancy are stored in said meta-database, further comprising a summarizing module wherein said refining module updates site relevancy of query-data patterns stored in said meta-database based on responses from the plurality of available database sites to a posed query, and said summarizing module checks the consistency among retrieved database site information to eliminate any duplicate information, and then forwards resulting summarized information to said one of the plurality of clients. 
     
     
       5. The network server of claim 1, in which the plurality of available database sites are viewed as respective resources, wherein said summarizing module summarizes retrieved database site information into a format which points out to users that retrieved database site information can come from different locations and identifies the locations, and wherein duplicated resources are gradually accumulated by said summarizing module and are fed back to said network server for future query processes. 
     
     
       6. The network server of claim 2, in which said search agent, as a result of indexing said meta-database, is apprised of multimedia features which may possess semantic coherence and/or semantic incoherence, and in which query data patterns having varying degrees of site relevancy are stored in said meta-database, further comprising: a search module that checks for semantic coherence of indexed multimedia features; and   a summarizing module wherein said refining module updates site relevancy of query-data patterns stored in said meta-database based on responses from the plurality of available database sites to a posed query, and said summarizing module checks the consistency among retrieved information to eliminate any duplicate information, and then forwards summarized information to said one of the plurality of clients.   
     
     
       7. The network server of claim 6, in which the plurality of available database sites are viewed as respective resources, wherein said summarizing module summarizes retrieved database site information into a format which points out to users that retrieved database site information can come from different locations and identifies the locations, and wherein duplicated resources are gradually accumulated by said summarizing module and are fed back to said network server for future query processes. 
     
     
       8. The network server of claim 2, wherein: said meta-database is organized at a first level and a second level in such a manner that the text information is stored in the first level and multimedia information is stored in the second level; and   said indexing module uses a two level index such that a first level indexing of said meta-database is performed with text and qualitative information, and a second level indexing of said meta-database is performed with multimedia information.